How to Increase App Installs without Spending Anything on Ads

New apps appear on the App Store and Google Play every day.
For publishers who want to run app install campaigns, this means that each year the cost per install is growing. This poses a big problem if you have a limited advertising budget – you have to get really creative to avoid spending too much money on app install ads. In this article we’re going to share some ideas to increase app installs without running any ad campaigns.

Improve your ASO

The first and the most obvious thing you should do is improve your app’s listing by including your target keywords in your app’s title, description, and in-app purchases. In addition to that, it will be helpful to have the target keywords in app reviews. All these fields are indexed by the iOS and Google, so having the right keywords in them will help you rank higher, drive more organic search traffic and increase downloads.

Run a paid-to-free campaign

This is the best way to increase installs for paid apps. Basically, you make a paid app available for free for a limited time and spread the news everywhere you can because such campaigns fail without media exposure. If you have a free app with in-app purchases, you can run a paid-to-free campaign where you make one of the in-app purchases free. For example, new features in a game are perfect for this (weapons, race cars, or even whole levels).

Localize your app

This might sound surprising, but not everyone searches the app store in English. If your app is not tied to a particular country or region, localizing at least its listing will bring additional downloads and installs. Try translating your app’s name and keywords first and, when you see an increase in installs for a particular language, translate the rest.